BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR estern North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn has become known for saying some surprising things to further his political agenda, but Cawthorn’s most recent statement is by far his most surprising. “I believe we have a unique opportunity to increase conservative leadership from North Carolina,” Cawthorn said in a video posted around 7 p.m. on Nov. 11. “I have every confidence in the world that regardless of where I run the 14th Congressional District will send a patriotic fighter to D.C. Knowing the political realities of the 13th District, I am afraid that another establishment go-along-to-getalong’ Republican would prevail there. I will not let that happen. I will be running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District.” WNC’s 11th Congressional District has been among the most wildly unpredictable in the country since near the end of Mark Meadows’ tenure in 2019, but now voters west of Asheville are slowly coming to the realization that Cawthorn’s improbable 2020 victory wasn’t the end of the instability — it was only the beginning.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s surprising announcement came on Nov. 11.
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A night, when the then-unknown placed second in the Primary Election, just 2.3 points behind Bennett. The fact that he’d bested Davis, a respected public servant with decades of experience and substantial name recognition, was met with amazement by most. It wasn’t quite enough, however; Bennett had failed to reach the 30% threshold to avoid a runoff, so one was scheduled between her and Cawthorn for June 23. The extra time only gave Cawthorn more opportunities to spread his message, just as Bennett’s campaign continued a series of missteps that began with her shady entry into the race and continued with a sham endorsement from a two-day-old PAC, a series of poor public performances and a refusal to debate her inexperienced opponent. Even a million dollars in PAC money and the full support of the President of the United
States couldn’t salvage Bennett’s poorly run campaign and as the runoff drew near, Cawthorn’s momentum surged, with some Republicans even saying they wouldn’t support the Trump-endorsed Bennett if she beat Cawthorn. She didn’t. In fact, she didn’t even come close. Bennett tallied fewer votes in the runoff than she did in the Primary Election, and Cawthorn handed her a decisive loss by a two-to-one margin. The loss was a major embarrassment for Trump, and for Meadows, who in March became Trump’s chief of staff after abandoning his seat and leaving it completely vacant throughout the rest of 2020. Democrats had watched the contest closely since Meadows, who was likely undefeatable in his district, announced his departure. Retired Air Force colonel, attorney and moderate Democrat Moe Davis won his
Smoky Mountain News
lthough his performance on Election Day may have been predictable, what happened to Cawthorn next wasn’t. As he was being sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021, Trump was still disputing the results of an election that saw his party lose the House, the Senate and the Oval Office. Three days later, Cawthorn spoke at Trump’s “stop the steal” rally on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., where he opined that the crowd had “some fight in it.” Some in that Jan. 6 crowd went on to participate in the most serious incursion into the U.S. Capitol since the British burned it down in 1814. Telling The Smoky Mountain News that in retrospect he may have added a few lines to his Ellipse statement and that he was in no way advocating the violent overthrow of the U.S. government, Cawthorn has since held firm to the “big lie” ideology pushed by the twice-impeached Trump. Convictions against some of the insurrectionists have since been handed down, even as a bipartisan select committee of the House continues to investigate the incident and issue subpoenas. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was subpoenaed but failed to appear as ordered, was indicted on contempt charges on Nov. 12, surrendered on Nov. 15 and will be free at
November 17-23, 2021
n December 2019, four-term incumbent representative and chair of the influential House Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows (R-Asheville), shocked the political establishment when he announced he wouldn’t seek another term in Congress. Meadows did so with only about a day remaining in the filing period, catching most politicos flat-footed. That was on purpose, though — Meadows pushed a friend of his wife’s, Maggie Valley Realtor Lynda Bennett, to the front of the line by giving her advance warning of his intentions. That little maneuver boxed out some viable candidates, and left others literally speeding to Raleigh to file their paperwork before the deadline. But not Bennett — once Meadows made his announcement Bennett was ready to go, with a website, a press release and an endorsement from the Asheville Tea PAC all issued before most people had even gotten out of bed that morning. Bennett’s running start didn’t scare off 11 other candidates on the Republican side, including retiring Sen. Jim Davis of Franklin, Meadows’ acolyte Wayne King and a charismatic 24-year-old from Henderson County who’d failed out of college and only ever worked at Chick-fil-A, albeit briefly. As the shortened campaign season began — Meadows’ announcement came on Dec. 19, 2019, with the Primary Election slated for March 3, 2020 — Cawthorn began garnering more and more attention amongst local Republicans due to an attractive pro-Trump message delivered in an attractive package. Cawthorn’s first minor victory came that
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Going rogue: Cawthorn’s move has widespread implications
Primary Election with more than 47 percent of the vote in a field of five, thus avoiding a runoff. Over the next four months, Davis and Cawthorn battled it out in debates, candidate forums and mailboxes, on television, the radio and the internet. And there was plenty to talk about — weeks after his runoff victory, The Smoky Mountain News was first to report on sexual harassment allegations against Cawthorn by a former classmate. Then, social media posts surfaced suggesting that Cawthorn held racist or white supremacist views. Then, it was stolen valor accusations over his rejected application to the U.S. Naval Academy. Then, it was more sexual harassment allegations and a letter of repudiation from his peers at the very Christian, very conservative Patrick Henry College. None of it, however, stuck. Cawthorn’s apologies, denials and explanations satisfied voters in his deeply conservative district, as much as Davis tried to make light of them. Late in the campaign, a resurfaced tweet from Davis about wanting to stomp the “scrawny pasty necks” of conservatives ignited a firestorm and dealt a final blow to the campaign of a man many considered eminently qualified but thoroughly unlikeable. Democrats had high hopes for Davis despite the district’s solid-red status, but were ultimately disappointed by his performance, a 12-point loss to Cawthorn on Nov. 3. Cawthorn celebrated the victory with a tweet of his own two hours after the polls closed, directed at Davis. It said, simply, “Cry more, lib.”
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